This is the 18th time I am able to proudly say that the beautiful lady standing beside me is my Valentine. In the summer of 1994 I was home from graduate school, visiting my parents in southern Illinois. After a week of vacation, I said goodbye to my parents and pulled out of the driveway in my little blue Honda CRX for the lonely twelve hour drive back to Fort Worth, Texas. As I drove away my prayer warrior mother cried out in her heart, “Lord, it’s time!” You might be thinking, time for what? Time for her son to meet “the one.” In a matter of weeks her prayers (plural because she had been praying for my future wife for several years) were answered.

Here’s how it happened. The last weekend of August I got a call from a buddy of mine who wanted me to go with him to a singles fellowship that evening at Southwayside Baptist Church. I didn’t really want to go. But Tim was persistent, saying, “Oh, come on man, who knows…you might even meet your future wife there tonight!” Who could walk away from an offer like that! I truly didn’t expect that to happen.